Can-opening key and guide



Sept. 25, 1956 1.. N. CETTOMAI 2,764,312,

CAN-OPENING KEY AND GUIDE Filed April 17, 1955 jrzyenior ladaa'z'cw/K l'ciefomav' 5 fgw: @M

United States Patent '0 2,764,312 CAN-OPENING KEY AND GUIDE Lodovico N. Cettomai, Wareham, Mass.

Application April 17, 1953, Serial No. 349,343

1 Claim. (Cl. 220-52) This invention relates tosealed receptacles of the kind having an integral tear strip and a key operable to assist in removing the tear strip and hence separating the parts of the receptacle joined thereby and more especially to a keeper guide for use with the key.

The tear strip is in common usage for sealed containers particularly vacuum sealed containers such as containers in which coffee is packaged. With such containers there is supplied a key, the latter being attachedto the bottom of the container with a spot weld so that it can be easily removed, engaged with the tag end of the tear strip and then rolled about its axis and along the surface of the can to tear the strip away from the adjacent portions of the can and at the same time to roll the strip on the key so that when the strip is completely detached the key and strip may be thrown away. Thus under ideal conditions of use the strip is wound up in a neat disposable fashion on the key. Because of the narrowness of the tear strip, lack of care in manipulation and impatience, it not infrequently happens that the successive coils of the strip are not laid squarely on top of each other so that before the entire strip is coiled the outer coils slide 01f the inner coils or vice versa, with the result that the outer coils have no supporting core and hence as the key is rotated it will no longer exert a tearing force on the strip so as to pull it away from the adjacent portions of the can but instead will rotate within the displaced outer coils tending to wind the latter up tight. The displaced coils on further winding however serve only to aggravate the side slipping so that ultimately the coils are forced over the end of the key and all control is then lost. While it is possible to unwind the strip and rewind it, this is difficult to accomplish, trying of patience and very often results in cutting the hands since the edges of the strip are sharp and somewhat ragged.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a key-operated means which will insure coiling of the strip without slippage so that even with careless manipulation there is no loss of control. Further objects are to provide a key operated means which is independent of the container construction requiring no modification thereof -to be effective, requires no modification of the conventional tear strip, may be employed with the conventional key now used, may be attached to the can bottom together with and as part of the conventional key, is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, will safeguard the user from the hazard of injury and is expendable.

Further objects and advantages of the device will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is an isometric View of an end portion of a container showing the opening device app-lied thereto with the tear strip partially wound on it;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the opening device;

Fig. 3 is an end view as seen from the right end of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a blank for making the keeper guide for the key shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 shows a plan view of a modified form of the opening device; I

Fig. 6 is an end view of the modified form of opening device as seen from the right end of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line 77 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a blank for making the keeper guide for the key shown inFig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is illustrated a fragmentary end portion of a container 10, for example, a cylindrical cofiee can of the vacuum packed type which has near one end an integral tear strip 12 which joins the top or cover 14 to the body 16. f In keeping with conventional construction a tag end of this strip is left free so that it may be raised and engaged with a slot s in the shank 18 of a key 20. Customarily, the key 29 is attached to the bottom of the can by a spot weld so as to hold it in place prior to use and when it is desired to use the contents of the can the key is broken away from the bottom, the end of the tear strip is inserted through the 7 slot in the shank of the key and the latter is turned so as to break the tear strip away from the adjacent portions of the body and cover of the can and to wind it onto the I shank of the key, the latter traveling bodily about the periphery of the can. When the operation is carried out with care and some degree of skill the tear strip will, of course, wind itself about the key in successive coils which are laid up squarely with respect to each other. It not infrequently happens, however, that through carelessness, impatience and hurriedness' that the successive coils become displaced, sliding laterally along the axis of the key with the result that it becomes impossible to apply a winding force great enough to tear the strip away and ultimately the coils slide off the end of the key shank making it impossible to proceed further. The only thing that can be done is to unwind the strip and rewind it or to disregard the key, grasp the tear strip and forcibly pull it away. The former operation is difficult to perform and quite exasperating and the latter operation is very apt to result in cutting the hands and fingers since the edges of the strip are rough and sharp. A

In accordance with the present invention to avoid the aforesaid dilficulties a keeper guide 22 is associated with the key which is adapted to receive the coils of the strip as it is pulled free and-wound on the shank and to hold them in vertical alignment so that it is impossible for the successive coils to slip sideways on the key. The keeper commodate the wound, completely detached tear strip.

Bearing bosses 28 are provided at the opposite sides of the plate, midway between its ends through which the shank of the key pass and rotatably support the keeper on the shank of the key. To retain the keeper on the shank, that is to prevent it sliding axially oil the end of the key the latter is enlarged as at 30 either by adding metal to it or by deforming for example flattening it so that it cannot slide through the endmost bearing 28.

The keeper illustrated in Fig. 2 is made from a fiat blank a as shown in Fig. 4 which may be cut from sheet metal of suitable gauge in one operation by a suitably shaped die. As there illustrated the blank is substantially rectangular and has a rectangular hole through it which is symmetrical with respect to its outside dimensions. At its opposite sides midway between its ends are integrally formed T-shaped tabs t. The blank a is mounted on the shank of the key by the simple operation of placing it against the shank and then wrapping the end portions of the T-shaped tabs about the shank so that their extremities meet on the opposite side of the shank thus providing the circular or sleeve-like bearings 28 described above.

An alternative construction for the keeper guide and for mounting it on the shank of the key is illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8. As illustrated in Fig. 8 the keeper is cut out of sheet metal in the form of an elongate substantially rectangular blank b in which there are formed a pair of rectangular openings located at opposite sides of the transverse center line XX of the blank and concentrically within the respective halves of the blank. The blank is then folded on the line XX so as to bring the openings into vertical registration thereby forming a keeper 22 corresponding in shape to that shown in Fig. 2 but being comprised of two layers instead of one. As part of the forming operation of the blank semicircular depressions 32 are formed in the opposite sides of each half of the blank midway between the ends of each half which are of sufficient depth to accommodate one-half of the shank of the key. The blank is applied to the shank of the key by folding on the line XX so that the depressed portions 32 embrace the shank of the key there by providing cylindrical bearings within which the shank is rotatably contained. A spot weld w is then applied to the free ends of the folded halves so as permanently to join them. In this form the keeper 22 is retained on the shank of the key by enlarging the stem within the rectangular opening of the keeper, for example, by adding metal thereto or deforming it as shown at 36 Fig. 5. An advantageous feature of having the enlargement formed within the keeper opening is that the keeper is held in registration with the slot in the key as distinguished from the form in which the enlargement is formed at the ends which allows the guide to slide along the shank. It is to be understood however that the particular means illustrated for retaining the keeper on the shank of the key is unimportant in so far as its location or shape so long as the guide is retained in place and it is contemplated that any equivalent means may be employed for this purpose.

The key and keeper are made fast to the bottom of the container by a spot weld and since the keeper is flat it will lie close to the bottom without protruding to any greater extent than the key itself and thus will not interfere in any way with stacking the containers or packaging the same. When the device is to be used it is pulled free by breaking at weld, the tag end of the tear strip is pulled upwardly so that it may be engaged with the slot in the shank of the key and then the key is rotated about its axis so as to roll the strip up in a coil. The keeper being free to turn on the key slides along the surface of the can and as the coils are wound on the key they are laid between the sides of the keeper which holds the successive coils in registration thereby making it impossible for the coil to slip sidewise. When the strip is completely separated the wound strip, key and keeper may be thrown away. A secondary advantage of the keeper is that even after the strip is removed it keeps the strip wound up so that when discarded by throwing it in a waste basket or trash can the strip will not become unwound thereby exposing the rough sharp edges and hence injury to the hands of persons emptying the waste basket or trash can or to children who frequently investigate the content of such trash containers picking out such treasures as discarded can opening keys to play with is greatly minimized.

The size and particular shape of the keepers herein ma, of course, be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention. While illustrated herein for use in removing a tear strip from the wall of the cylindrical can it may be used for rectangular cans and even where the tear strip is located in the fiat end surface of the container.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A can opener key with an attached guide for use with cans having tear-strip openers comprising a conventional type key having an enlarged end for turning, a shank, and a longitudinal slot intermediate the ends of the shank for receiving the free end of the tear-strip and a keeper guide for aligning and retaining in tight coils the tear-strip as it is severed-from the can, said keeper guide comprising an essentially flat base member of sheet metal having a closed, substantially rectangular opening of dimensions closely corresponding to the width and diameter of the tightly coiled tear-strip and a pair of aligned bearing bosses projecting outwardly from opposite sides of said base member, said bearing bosses being formed from integral T-shaped sheet metal tabs cylindrically bent and embracing the shank of the key on opposite sides of the slot therein, said key having a splayed end opposite the enlarged turning end for attachment to the can and for retaining the guide on the key.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 178,197 Sprague May 30, 1876 523,465 Dalton July 24, 1894 543,004 Fellows July 23, 1895 1,199,790 Holcomb Oct. 3, 1916 1,546,221 Eriksson July 14, 1925 1,911,613 Epstein May 30, 1933 2,572,820 Schluter Oct. 23, 1951 2,649,990 Lyle Aug. 25, 1953 2,660,331 Inman Nov. 24, 1953 I FOREIGN PATENTS 554,062 Great Britain June 17, 1943 

